"We fear there is a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in Syria by these countries that are increasing pressure on Syria," Assad's deputy foreign minister Faisal Maqdad said Thursday. He also repeated the assertion that the regime would never use chemical weapons on the Syrian people.

Sarin gas, a colorless and odorless gas that can spread quickly through the air, is one of the most dangerous and toxic chemicals known to man. The Assad government has more than 500 metric tons of the precursors and usually stores them separately to prevent accidentally triggering a deadly reaction.

NATO has already approved Patriot missiles for Turkey's border with Syria. And The Voice of Russia reported that there are now 17 warships off the Syrian coast following the arrival of the U.S.S. Dwight D Eisenhower — a multipurpose nuclear attack carrier that holds 70 fighter-bombers and 8,000 U.S. servicemembers — in the eastern Mediterranean.

Meanwhile Syrian rebels are closing in on Damascus and activists posted a video telling residents of Damascus how to prepare for the "Zero Hour" — a major offensive in the capital to topple the Assad regime.

Yesterday Haaretz reportedthat Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal al-Miqdad recently traveled to Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador with personal letters from Assad, looking for the possibility of political asylum for him and his family.

No matter the veracity of the claim, all signs point to the end game of the 21-month conflict.

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After reading the article on the effects of chemical weapons I'm much more concerned about their potential use.

However I don't believe that we can justify war until they've actually been used. I remember the Iraq war which was sold to us as Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and then after spending hundreds of billions of dollars potentially trillions of dollars we found out that there were no weapons.